Toy vehicle track system

ABSTRACT

A track system having a banked curve portion comprising three track sections. Connection between the track sections is made by connector flanges and connector tabs integral with one track section extending beyond its end to engage the end of an abutting adjacent track section, so that alignment of track section surfaces is achieved in addition to stiffening and strengthening the track sections. An elastic band is then looped about the connector flanges to insure joinder.

United States Patent 1191 Cook et al.

111 3,729,134 [451 Apr. 24, 1973 22 Filed:'

[ TOY VEHICLE TRACK SYSTEM [75] Inventors: John S. Cook, Sunnyvale; Denis V. Bosley, Palos Verdes Peninsula,

both of Calif.

[73] Assignee: Mattel, lnc., Hawthorne, Calif.

Jan. 20, 1971 [2]] App]. No.: 107,912

'[52] US. Cl. ..238/l0 E [51 lm. c1. ..A63h 19/30 [.58] Field of Search ..46/l, l6, 1 K; 1 238/10 15, 10 F; 104/60 [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,243,120 3/1966 Lingard a al. ..238/l() F 2,862,333 l2/l958 Gardicl ..238/l0 E 3,487,999 l/l970 Nash et a]. ..238/l() E 3,395,861 8/1968 Kindred ..238/l0 F 3,288,368 l 1/1966 Athcam ..238/l0 F 3,592,384 7/1971 Tomaro ..238/l0 E Primary Examiner-Gerald M. Forlenza Assistant Examiner-Richard A. Bertsch Att0rneySeymour A. Scholnick 5 7] ABSTRACT A track system having a banked curve portion comprising three track sections. Connection between the track sections is made by connector flanges and connector tabs integral with one track section extending beyond its end to engage the end of an abutting adjacent track section, so that alignment of track section surfaces. is achieved in addition to stiffening and strengthening the track sections. An elastic band is then looped about the connector flanges to insure joinder.

7 Claims, 7 Drawing Figures Patented April 24, 1973 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Irrae/vi/ sp eedometer and various types of power boosters.

TOY VEHICLE TRACK SYSTEM BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1 Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a track system and, more particularly, to a banked curve portion of the track system where the track is relatively wide compared to the miniature toy vehicles to be used upon the track.

2'. Description of the Prior Art SmalI toy vehicles having freely rotatable wheels have become of late exceedingly popular among youngsters. The toy vehicles, as exemplified by the description in US. Pat. No. 3,510,981 to H. W. La Branche et al., are sold with or are intended to be used on a track system, such as that more fully described in US. Pat. No. 3,487,999 to A. W. B..Nash et al. Continuous efforts have been made to devise new components or accessories to make playing with the small toy vehicles more exciting. For example, a number of accessories are now being marketed; some of the more popular accessories include a loop, a 180 curve, a 90 curve, a starting gate, a finish gate, a lap counter, a

To simulate racing between two of the self-poweredvehicles, a track section must be available which is at least as wide as the width of the two vehicles to allow one to pass the otherypreferably, the track is considerably wider, on a scale approaching that of a real oval raceway relative a real racing car, such as that ex-- emplified by the Indianapolis 500 motor speedway or the recently opened Ontario speedway.

"Generally," track layouts have been restricted toa track width slightly greater than the width of the toy vehicle; this requires that the vehicles move in single file. Attempts to make wider tracks have accentuated problems existing with the narrower tracks, especially alignment problems. For example, it is imperative that the retaining guide flanges of one track section be aligned with the guide flanges of an abutting track section; and it is imperative that the running surfaces of abutting track sections align. To be otherwise would cause a small self-powered toy vehicle impacting on a misaligned track section to leave the track or turn over so as to-be excluded from the race until properly reset on the track.

.It is a corollary with any of the above structures and accessories that they be designed in a fashion to solve the various technical problems presented and also be inexpensively manufactured, so that mass marketing at a reasonable price can be accomplished.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, it is the aim of the present invention to provide a new and'improved track system, including at least two track sections comprising a first track section having a support portion, an upper running surface over which a toy vehicle can move, a bottom surface, two ends and means connected to the bottom surface extending beyond at least one of the ends for joining to an adjacent track section; a second track section having a support portion, an upper running surface, a bottom surface, two ends where one of the second track section ends is disposed abutting the end of the first track section beyond which the joining means extends,

and means connected to the second track section bottom surface extending beyond the second track section one end for joining to the adjacent first track section; and means engaging the joining means of the first and second track sections for retaining the track sections in an abutting relationship. The invention further includes a track section comprising a support portion having an upper running surface over which a toy vehicle can move, a guide flange extending away from the running surface forretaining the toy vehicle on the running surface, two ends for abutting adjacent track sections, a

bottom surface, and means connected to the bottom surface extending beyond at least one of the ends for positioning adjacent a bottom surface of an adjacent track section for aligning and strengthening the support portion and for cooperating with extending means from an adjacent track section to join the adjacent track section.

It is the general aim of the present invention to pro- 'vide a track system having aligned running surfaces which is simply constructed, rugged and inexpensive to manufacture.

Another aspect of the present invention is to provide a banked curve portion of a track system having aligned running surfaces so as to be suitable for selfpowered toy vehicles.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a track section which can be easily aligned with an adjacent track section and easily connected thereto.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will appear from the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a plan view of the track system illustrating in solid line a banked curve portion. FIG. 2 is an enlarged sectional elevational view taken along line 2-2 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged sectional elevational view taken along line 33 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged elevational view taken along line 44 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 5 is a view similar to that shown in FIG. 4 with the track sections slightly separated.

FIG. 6 is a sectional plan view taken along line 6-6 of FIG. 5.

FIG. 7 is a partial plan view taken along line 7--7 of FIG. 4.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT While the present invention is susceptible of various modifications and alternative constructions, an illustratrary, the intention is to cover all modifications, equivalents and alternative constructions falling within the spirit and scope of the invention as expressed in the appended claims.

Referring now to FIG. 1, there is shown a portion of a track system 10, particularly illustrating a 180 banked curve portion 12. The curve portion comprises three track sections 14, 16 and 18 with the track sections 14 and 18 being connectable to the remainder of the track system, such as illustrated by straight track sections 20 and 22 drawn in phantom line. In one contemplated track system, there are two l80 curve portions identical to the curve portion 12 which are connected to form a loop by two parallel straight track portions so as to achieve a simulated Indianapolis 500 Motor Speedway course. As is probably known, the Indianapolis 500 Motor Speedway comprises two straightaways and two banked 180 curves with the racing vehicles moving around the speedway for 200 laps to cover the requisite 500 miles. Using the curve portion 12 and self-powered miniature toy vehicles, the famous Memorial Day race may be simulated by a child with many of the races exciting features.

FIG. 2 illustrates a cross-section view of the track section 16. The track section comprises a support portion 24 having an upper running surface 26 and a bottom surface 28. Extending away from the running surface 26 are spaced apart guide flanges 30 and 32 for guiding the toy vehicle to insure that the toy vehicle remains on the running surface 26. Integral with the guide flange 32 is a base portion 34 which in turn is integral with two flanges 36 and 38 which support the track section on a horizontal surface 40, such as a floor or tabletop, for example. The surface 40 may also be considered a horizontal reference plane for purposes of describing the position of the track sections. In a similar fashion referring to FIG. 3, the track section 18 is comprised of a support portion 42 having a running surface 44 and a bottom surface 46. Also included are guide flanges 48 and 50, base portion 52 and two depending flanges 54 and 56 which function in the same manner as the corresponding parts of the track section 16.

Positioned along the bottom surface 28 of the track section 16 are five spaced apart connector or align flanges 60, 62, 64, 66 and 68, while positioned along the bottom surface 46 of the track section 18 are five spaced apart connector flanges 70, 72, 74, 76 and 78. Integral with the base portion 34 are two connector tabs 80 and 82, while positioned integral with the base portion 52 are two connector tabs 84 and 86. Referring once again to FIG. 1, the track section 14 has two ends 90 and 92, the track section 16 has two ends 94 and 96 and the track section 18 has two ends 98 and 100. The connector flanges and connector tabs described along the ends 96 and 98 are identical to connector flanges and connector tabs integral with the ends 92 and 94.

Referring now to FIG. 6, two of the connector or align flanges 60 and 70 are shown in more detail. Each of the connector flanges 60 and 70 has a wedge-shape elevation view with a portion of the connector flange extending beyond the respective end of the integral support portion so as to form alignment surfaces 108 and 110, respectively. The surfaces 108 and 110 engage the bottom surface of the adjacent track section to insure alignment of the abutting ends. In addition, each connector flange includes an edge, such as the edges 102 and 104 of the connector flanges 60 and 70, respectively, which are slanted relative the bottom surfaces to form an acute angle where the edges and the bottom surfaces intersect so as to provide an engagement location for an elastic band 106 outlined in phantom in FIG. 6.

Referring to FIGS. 4 and 5, there is illustrated the manner in which the ends 96 and 98 of the track sections 16 and 18, respectively, come together and abut. As mentioned earlier, it is a major aspect of the present invention to provide that the abutting surfaces of adjacent track sections align, so that a toy vehicle moving along the running surface at a high velocity will not collide with a misaligned end. Because of the characteristics of the small toy vehicles, such a collision will cause the vehicle to no longer function in the race until it is reset. To insure the alignment of the track section ends, as well as to strengthen the track section ends, the connector flanges are spaced along the width of the track section as illustrated.

When the ends of the track sections are brought together, as illustrated in FIG. 4, the alignment surfaces, such as the surfaces 108 and 110, FIG. 6, bear against the bottom surface of the adjacent track section to insure that the levels of the running surfaces coincide. In addition, the connector flanges 60, 62 and insure that the track sections 16 and 18 are laterally aligned by having the connector flanges 60 and 62 spaced a sufficient distance to snuggly receive the connector flange 70. Thus, if the adjacent track sections are brought together properly, they are aligned along all surfaces with which a moving toy vehicle may come into contact and are held together by the frictional force developed between the bottom surfaces and the connector flanges. However, to insure that the track sections will remain connected, the elastic band 106 is provided to engage the connector flanges and bias the track sections to the abutting position shown in FIG. 4. The elastic band 106 which may be an ordinary rubber band" is looped around the connector flanges 60, 62 and 70 and then alternately about the connector flanges of the two track sections, so that the elastic band is positioned in a zig-zag fashion about the connector flanges in the following order: 72, 64, 74, 66, 76, 68 and 78.

Referring now to FIG. 7, the base portion 34 of the track section 16 and the base portion 54 of the track section 18 are shown in more detail and include recesses and 122, respectively. The recesses provide entrapments for the elastic band 106 which may be looped about the two projecting fingers of material 124 and 126 to complete the positioning of the elastic band. To insure alignment of the base portions, to provide strength, stiffness and added area on which to support the track sections, the connector or align tabs 80, 82, 84 and 86 are provided. As illustrated, each of the connector tabs while integral with its corresponding track section extends beyond its end, so that when connected, the connector tabs are positioned beneath the bottom surface of the adjacent track section. The connector tabs are designed to come into contact with each other and the adjacent track section bottom surface to cause a good frictional engagement. Thus, not

only are the surfaces aligned, but when the elastic band is used, a strong, rigid connection is formed between the adjacent track sections. Further, the bottom surfaces 130, 132, 134 and 136, FIGS. 2 and 3, of the connector tabs are wide and flat so as to provide a more stable stand on the surface 40.

In operation, the track system is assembled by assembling the various track sections together, including abutting the end 90 of the track section 14 against the track section and inserting three connectors 140, 142 and 144 into three channel-shaped receptacles (not shown) in the underside of the track section 20. In a similar fashion, the three connectors 146, 148 and 150 of the track section 18 are inserted into the receptacles of the track section 22. The track section 16 is connected to the track sections 14 and 18 by, in the first instance, bringing the ends 92 and 94 into abutment, so that the connector flanges and connector tabs of one of the track sections come into contact with the other track section. Then an elastic band'is placed alternately about the connector flanges. In a similar fashion, the ends 96 and 98 are brought into engage-.

ment, so that, as shown in sequence moving fromFIG.

5 to FIG. 4, there is engagement of the connector flanges, as well as the connector tabs, as shown in FIG. 7. The elastic band 106 is then placed alternately about the connector flanges, as shown in FIG. 4, and looped around the projecting fingers 124 and 126.

As has been mentioned, the track may be located upon a surface, such as a floor or tabletop, though it is to be understood that openings 160, 162 and 164 are provided to receive mating trestles to cause the track system or at least the banked curve portion of the track system to be elevated. As viewed in FIGS. 2 and 3, the base portion is parallel to the surface 40, while the support portions 24 and 42 are curved in' an upwardly direction away from the reference plane thereby achieving a steep bank. The actual curvature and steepness are a function of the expected velocities of the toy vehicles to be used and can be varied without affecting the invention herein. In order to minimize cost, the track sections may be made of any suitable material, preferably of a suitable synthetic resin so as to allow each track section to be molded as an integral unit. An example of one such synthetic resin is polystyrene.

Referring now to FIG. 1, each of the track sections may contain a series of generally parallel running ribs 170 which act to bias a moving toy vehicle along the track section in a direction parallel to the longitudinal axis of the track section. It has been found that if the ribs are about 0.010 inches in height, biasing is achieved quite easily, so that should there be an impact between two of the vehicles, the ribs will tend to restore the vehicles to a correct running position.

We claim:

1. A toy vehicle track system comprising:

first and second track sections each having an upper running surface over which a toy vehicle can roll and a bottom surface, adjacent ends of said track sections being in end edge abutment with the end edges of their upper surfaces coincident;

a plurality of alignment elements secured to the bottom surface of each track section, each extending longitudinally past the end of its track section and frictional] abutting the bottom surface of the other trac section to maintain said end edges of said upper surface in coincidence, said alignment elements on one track section extending between alignment elements on the other track section, at least two adjacent elements on one section substantially abutting the sides of the element extending therebetween from the other section to thereby hold said sections in lateral alignment; and

holding means holding said track sections against longitudinal separation.

2. A track system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said alignment element comprise connector flanges, each having an edge engaging said holding means.

3. A track system as claimed in claim 2, wherein said holding means comprises an elastic band.

4. A track system as claimed in claim 3 wherein:

each of said track sections includes a base portion at an edge thereof; and including recesses positioned within each of said base portions for receiving a portion of said elastic band, said elastic band alternately engaging the said edges of the alignment elements of said first and second track sections.

5. A track system as claimed in claim 1, wherein:

each of said track sections is curved and each track section includes a base portion along one edge thereof; and

alignment elements on said base portions.

6. A curve portion for a track system comprising:

first, second and third track sections, each having an upper running surface, a bottom surface and two ends;

said first and second track sections have abutting ends along which are projecting connector flanges extending from the bottom surface of a'connected track section to beneath the bottom surface of the other track section; I said second and third track sections have abutting ends along which are projecting connector flanges extending from the bottom surface of a-connected track section to beneath the bottom surface of the other track section; and 7 two elastic bands, one band engaging the connector flanges about the abutting ends of said first and second track sections and the other band engaging the connector flanges about the abutting ends of said second and third track sections. 7. A curve as claimed in claim 6, wherein each of said track sections includes a base portion having connector tabs extending beyond the abutting ends for frictionally engaging the connector tabs of said'adjac ent track section. Y 

1. A toy vehicle track system comprising: first and second track sections each having an upper running surface over which a toy vehicle can roll and a bottom surface, adjacent ends of said track sections being in end edge abutment with the end edges of their upper surfaces coincident; a plurality of alignment elements secured to the bottom surface of each track section, each extending longitudinally past the end of its track section and frictionally abutting the bottom surface of the other track section to maintain said end edges of said upper surface in coincidence, said alignment elements on one track section extending between alignment elements on the other track section, at least two adjacent elements on one section substantially abutting the sides of the element extending therebetween from the other section to thereby hold said sections in lateral alignment; and holding means holding said track sections against longitudinal separation.
 2. A track system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said alignment element comprise connector flanges, each having an edge engaging said holding means.
 3. A track system as claimed in claim 2, wherein said holding means comprises an elastic band.
 4. A track system as claimed in claim 3 wherein: each of said track sections includes a base portion at an edge thereof; and including recesses positioned within each of said base portions for receiving a portion of said elastic band, said elastic band alternately engaging the said edges of the alignment elements of said first and second track sections.
 5. A track system as claimed in claim 1, wherein: each of said track sections is curved and each track section includes a base portion along one edge thereof; and alignment elements on said base portions.
 6. A curve portion for a track system comprising: first, second and third track sections, each having an upper running surface, a bottom surface and two ends; said first and second track sections have abutting ends along which are projecting connector flanges extending from the bottom surface of a connected track section to beneath the bottom surface of the other track section; said second and third track sections have abutting ends along which are projecting connector flanges extending from the bottom surface of a connected track section to beneath the bottom surface of the other track section; and two elastic bands, one band engaging the connector flanges about the abutting ends of said first and second track sections and the other band engaging the connector flanges about the abutting ends of said second and third track sections.
 7. A curve as claimed in claim 6, wherein each of said track sections includes a base portion having connector tabs extending beyond the abutting ends for frictionally engaging the connector tabs of said adjacent track section. 